Back in the Swing

      After a couple of weeks of recovery, I'm back in the swing of a southern spring.  As the number of days in the academic year count down, there is quite a bit of activity on campus. Nan and I attended a concert by the Duke Jazz Ensemble on April 8th.  Nan had attended their prior concert in February while I was up skiing and had enjoyed it thoroughly.  The Jazz Ensemble is directed by John Brown, who is a bass player.  He generally is able to bring in some very talented guest artists to play with the ensemble.  The April concert featured Jon Metzger, a noted vibraphonist.  It was a very good concert, with the high point being a jam session with Brown and Metzger.  One of Nan's students was a lead saxophonist.
      A week later we attended the Duke Wind Symphony's concert - Saxophones En Masse.  The concert featured The North Carolina Saxophone Ensemble and Susan Fancher, a Duke faculty member.  We had seen Fancher last year and she is marvelous.  She also teaches at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival.  If you get a chance to see her, you should.  She was featured in Michael Torke's: Saxophone Concerto for saxophone and wind ensemble.  The interesting point about this piece is that it was premiered by the Albany Symphony Orchestra in 1993 and Nan saw it.  How's that for a coincidence?  Anyway, the concert was very good.  They played two pieces written by senior music majors.  The level of talent amazes me. Although the pieces weren't great, just the fact that the student were able to write and score them is a tremendous achievement.
      Having taken advantage of what the Music Department had to offer, we shifted to the entertainment provided by the Duke Drama Department.  We bought tickets to see a production of The Laramie Project, a play we saw at Stageworks in Hudson several years ago.  Well, Phil screwed-up.  I thought it was an 8:00 curtain and when we got there we found out it was 7:30 and they had sold our tickets.  "Mindfulness Phil," said the little voice in my head. 
     Not to be undone, we went upstairs to the other theatre in the Bryant Center which was featuring the musical Aida, which was written by Sir Elton John and Tim Rice.  So it was not a wasted evening.  As fate would have it, one of Nan's students was conducting the orchestra, which of course made it more interesting for her.  It is not the greatest musical and some of the acting needed stronger direction, but the lead voices were excellent.  The show was produced by Hoof 'n' Horn, which is the entirely student run group.  They have been a fixture at Duke for 75 years, making them the oldest student-run theater organization in the South.  Again kudos are in order for these multi-talented students.
     Our arts blitz concluded last Thursday with a visit to Chapel Hill to see Playmakers production of Big River.  Playmakers is the professional company associated with UNC.  We auditioned last Fall for their season, but it's pretty clear that they use faculty and students in their MFA program for many of the parts.  Big River was written by Roger Miller (King of the Road, You can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd) and is an adaptation of Huck Finn.  I love the music and was spoiled by seeing it originally with a full cast.  Playmakers did a nice job, with Jim, played by David Aron Damane, leading the way.  Damane has a big operatic voice and in his duets with Huck, played by Jason Edward Cooke, I felt like he held back so not as to overwhelm Cooke's reedier, sweeter voice.  Of course, the show stopper for me is Free At Last, sung by Jim; and Damane hit it spot on. (I use to sing Free at Last in church on Human Relations Sunday, but not with anything close to the passion or voice of Damane.)
     After two weeks of recovery it is great to be back in the swing of things.